Talking Across the Aisle: Chris Fenton’s Fight Against Political Tribalism
In a compelling and timely episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, host Sam Stone sits down with Hollywood executive and author Chris Fenton for a candid discussion on America’s deepening political divide—and the personal fallout that can come simply from engaging across party lines.
Fenton, known for producing films like Chappaquiddick, revealed he recently faced backlash after appearing on Rep. Matt Gaetz’s show. The criticism wasn’t about what he said—it was about where he said it. “It’s really disheartening,” Fenton explained. “We’ve polarized the nation to the point where people won’t even talk to someone from the other side.”
Despite being a lifelong Democrat, Fenton says he’s committed to appearing on both left- and right-leaning platforms. But while right-leaning outlets have welcomed the dialogue, he notes that some liberal media networks—like CNN—have blacklisted him for frequenting Fox News. “That makes no sense,” he said. “It’s truly un-American.”
Host Sam Stone echoed the frustration with a story from his time working on Martha McSally’s congressional campaign in 2012. When McSally was seen at a bipartisan event in Tucson, she was attacked by conservative media for merely engaging with Democratic operatives—despite a warm reception from those in attendance. “Isn’t the whole point of elections to convince people who don’t agree with you?” Stone asked. “How do you do that if you never talk to them?”
The core message of the conversation was clear: refusing to engage across ideological lines is damaging the foundation of American democracy. Fenton urged listeners to embrace civil discourse and empathy. “You need to put yourself in their shoes,” he said. “Say, ‘This is how I think, but I understand your view too.’ That’s how we rebuild this country.”
This episode offers a powerful reminder that true progress comes not from echo chambers—but from honest, respectful dialogue.
Transcript
Sam Stone: I want to touch on something because you just said you know talked about you being on Matt Gates's show you apparently have gotten a fair bit of flack for that appearance and that that's really bothers me I have my own story about this from years ago but tell folks what what's happened with that.
Chris Fenton: Well, I just it's really disheartening to me where we've polarized this nation to the point where people don't even want to talk to people on the other side. And I try to balance my appearances between left-leaning platforms and right-leaning platforms.
And in fact, because I do that, there's certain left-leaning platforms. I haven't had that experience with right, but there's certain left-leaning platforms, i.e. CNN, that won't even have me on because I've done Fox News so much, right? And it makes no sense because I actually grew up and have been a lifelong Democrat. Yes, I voted for Trump in the last election, and I had a bunch of great reasons I thought that worked for me. To make that vote.
And I wrote an op ed about it, which if anybody's on Twitter, they can go to my Twitter page at the dragon feeder and it's right at the top. And I explained why I voted for Trump. But the fact that people won't talk to the other side,
get other perspectives and POV and allow people like me to have constructive discussions on a platform that might be led by somebody that they disagree with, but won't allow me to go on there and have a constructive conversation with that point of view so that that audience can actually hear and maybe digest things that they don't normally hear in the daily course. That makes no sense. And it's truly un-American.
Sam Stone: It absolutely is. And I had my own experience with this. Back in 2012, I was doing Martha McSally's first campaign for Congress. That was right after Gabby Giffords had been shot in Tucson.
She was running for that open congressional seat in a special election. And we used to do this thing. All the political operatives in Tucson used to go down on Tuesday night for an event in downtown Tucson we called Drinking Liberally. And everyone would go there right and left.
We would all go down there and get hammered and then wake up with a hangover on Wednesday morning and go back to battle. But we all got along. It was a great experience. So right after Martha started that campaign, I took her one night to that event. And she was a hit.
I mean, even the Democrat operatives who were there loved her. They were having a great time getting to know her. At about 5:30 the next morning, I start getting panicked phone calls because word that she had been at that event. You know, some photo got out. It was the early days of Facebook.
And the local right side radio host was lighting her up one side and down the other for going to that event. And I just remember thinking at the time, oh, my God, isn't the point of an election to win and to convince people who don't agree with you that they should still vote for you?
And how do you do that if you can't ever even talk to them? And now we're at the place where even people like you who aren't running for office are being criticized for talking to people on the other side. How do we get past this?
Because that seems to me like maybe that's the most important issue in the country today is getting back to the point where – someone with a d and someone with an r can have a conversation that doesn't end in gunfire.
Chris Fenton: Yeah I it's it's interesting and it feels like it's more one side than the other I mean you brought up this this um right side of the aisle um sort of controversy but my experience has been the left has been a lot more hardcore about not wanting that different opinion on their platforms and get upset and they get upset when people like me go on to the right side platforms.
And I can give you a perfect example where I produced a movie called Chappaquiddick back in 2018. I don't know if anybody saw it.
Sam Stone: I love that movie. I didn't know that was yours. That's great.
Chris Fenton: What's crazy is we got a lot of flack from making that movie just to begin with.
It was adapted from the police records. It's a very controversial story, but we told it in a very sensitive way. And in fact, when it finally came out after we had all these threats not to release it. People on both sides of the aisle enjoyed it. But I will tell you, after it came out,
I got a bunch of calls and invites to go to different conferences on the left and the right. And one was the Steamboat Institute, which is a big sort of conference that Charlie Kirk and... Phil Wegman Emily Juzinski very very prominent sort of platform for people in
journalism on the right side of the aisle and and they invited me to go and talk about the film and I said to them first thing out of my mouth is I said look i've been a lifelong democrat I just want you to know that I love perceptions hearing
people's point of view that are on different sides of topics issues I love that stuff but I just want you to know that I might not come up there and say everything that you want me to say perfectly and they said
oh we would love that we never get anybody from the left side of the aisle here would you still want to come and I said of course I would and i'll tell you I had the best three days ever I had some of the best conversations I got a standing ovation from my speech there which was awesome
And I learned how to fly fish on the largest private ranch in the nicest part of the river up there for two days. And I always wanted to learn how to fly fish. So thank you, Steamboat Institute.
Sam Stone: Oh, that is fantastic. Yeah, I mean, we have the problem.
We had Tyler Pager, our first guest on today from The New York Times. He wrote the book 2024 about the Trump victory and how Democrats lost America. He's one of the rare guests we've gotten on from the New York Times, the Washington Post, those sorts of things. We love having them on.
We love having them on, and our guests love having them on. They love hearing what they have to say because it's different. This perception, and it is, like you say, more on the left, I think this is one of the things that Democrats are hurting themselves the most with because they just come off as loony with it.
Chris Fenton: Well, I think that's 100% the case. And I also think that when you go on to a particular show and you are talking to, say, an audience that might have a different opinion, you need to put yourself in their shoes and have a very constructive, respectful, way of saying, hey, this is the way I think about it.
But I understand your perception on this issue also, and allow people to digest you not as some elitist who thinks you're right about everything. But as somebody that says, hey, I just had a different upbringing, I see things a little differently because of the things around me, I want to learn more about you.
And I'd love you to learn a little bit more about me. And I love that.
Listen to the full episode of Breaking Battlegrounds anywhere you stream your podcasts!
For more of Chris Fenton’s work, follow him on Twitter @TheDragonFeeder and explore his articles, interviews, and books through his official page.